Dukinfield, Cheshire

Description
Dukinfield, a town and a township in Stockport parish, Cheshire. The township lies on the river Tame and the Peak Forest Canal, at the boundary with Lancashire, and on the ancient boundary of Mercia and Northumbria, adjoining Stalybridge and Ashton-under-Lyme, 6 miles E of Manchester; has stations on the M.S. & L.R. and L. & N.W.R., and a head post office, includes part of the municipal borough of Stalybridge, and is included in the parliamentary borough of the same name, and carries on extensive industry in coalmining, iron working, fire-brick making, and cotton spinning. Acreage of the township, 1660 ; population, 29,239. A part of the township under the control of the local board of health forms the town of Dukinfield. Acreage, 1263 ; population, 17,408. Dukinfield Hall, the seat of the Astley family, was the ancient seat of the Dukinfields, one of whom was colonel in the Parliamentary army. The Hall has been dismantled, but the domestic chapel, which was used for worship by the Independents in the reign of Charles I., was purchased in 1872 and enlarged as a Congregational chapel. The portion of the township without the borough of Stalybridge forms the ecclesiastical parish of St Mark. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Chester. The church is a fine edifice in the Early English style, erected in 1848. St Luke's Church, a handsome brick building, was erected in 1888. There are Roman Catholic, Congregational, Wesleyan, Primitive and New Connexion Methodist, Unitarian, and Moravian chapels. The cemetery serves also for Ashton-under-Lyme, and is managed by a burial board of 8 members. The Dukinfield Library and Astley Technical School and Institute was established in 1833 ; the present building was erected in 1853, and enlarged in 1875, and contains a library and reading-rooms. There are several political clubs, and a new bank was erected in 1894.